Melissa Leilani Larson is an award-winning writer from Provo, Utah. MARTYRS’ CROSSING (IRAM Best New Play) debuted at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe, and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE enjoyed a sold-out run at Brigham Young University last March. Her screenplay FREETOWN, presently filming in Ghana, will be in theaters next April. Other plays include LITTLE HAPPY SECRETS (Association for Mormon Letters Drama award), A FLICKERING (Trustus Playwrights Festival finalist), STANDING STILL STANDING (Mayhew award), and LADY IN WAITING (Lewis National Playwriting Contest for Women winner). A Dramatists Guild ambassador for Utah, Mel holds a BA in English from BYU and an MFA from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop.

As we talked with Melissa about writing drama via dialogue she whipped this one out on us:

“One thing I like about drama is that it is a safe place to ask questions” and then “If we can’t ask questions about ourselves, if we can’t laugh at ourselves in a fictional context, what are we doing everyday of the rest of our lives? Taking ourselves too seriously.”

Who knew writing plays would cause one to think more honestly about the human experience.

Brian was born and raised in Northern Utah and is now working as a chemist in Ohio. He has one wife and three children. He currently serves as the ward hall monitor. He likes to eat good food, and build cool things.

The Barker Brothers’ Projects

“…we are asking our Church leaders to inquire of the Lord if the one year wait on the temple sealing can be changed…”

These videos were created for Latter-day Saint parents and allies to voice their love for their LGBT brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. They want to give a message of comfort and support to other parents who are navigating the difficult conflicts that can arise in families around this issue.

“Cogito!” (“I think!”) follows the intellectual adventures of a recovering academic outside the walls of academia.

Quote of the Month

"It is not as a child that I believe and confess Jesus Christ. My hosanna is born of a furnace of doubt." (Fyodor Dostoevsky)